Many liver resection procedures are performed every year. For example, a liver may need to be resected to remove a tumor, a cancerous cell, or a diseased part of a liver. Liver resection surgery is a risky procedure because after the liver is resected, the remaining liver may bleed significantly due to the vascularity nature of the liver. In some cases, a patient may even die from significant bleeding after a liver resection procedure.
In many medical procedures, balloons have been used to occlude blood vessels and aneurysms. However, balloons have not been used to occlude vessels within a liver during a liver resection procedure. This is because delivering a balloon within a target vessel inside an organ is difficult. In order to accurately position a balloon inside a patient, the balloon would need to be visualized using an imaging device such as an ultrasound imager. However, existing balloons are not made from a material that allows them to be clearly visualized using ultrasound. Sometimes, after the balloon is inflated with liquid, the balloon remains very difficult to be imaged with ultrasound. This is because liquid within the balloon is not echogenic, thereby preventing a clear ultrasound image of the balloon from being obtained.
Sometimes, in order to aid a physician to visualize the balloon after the balloon has been placed in a patient's body, the balloon can include a radio-opaque marker secured thereto. The radio-opaque marker is then imaged using an imaging device located outside the patient's body. However, adding the radio-opaque marker to the balloon increases a manufacturing cost of the balloon. In addition, there is a risk that the radio-opaque marker may become detached from the balloon while the balloon inside the patient's body.
Other medical devices also use radio-opaque markers to assist a physician in positioning and/or confirming a position of the devices. For example, the catheter used to deliver the balloon may also include a radio-opaque marker secured to a distal end of the catheter. During use, the radio-opaque marker at the catheter can be imaged using an imaging device, thereby allowing a physician to steer the catheter distal end to target area within a patient's body. However, the use of the radio-opaque markers in these device increases the manufacturing cost of these devices, and there is a risk that a marker may become detached from a device while the device is inside the patient's body.